Alfuttaisi: “The expertise of the jury members and their involvement in similar various experiences in different countries gives them a broad and clear vision in selecting the winning projects.”

HE Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Alfuttaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications and Chairman of board of director of the Information Technology Authority )ITA(, visited the jury committee of Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment organized by ITA,  at the Kempinski Hotel yesterday to look at the progress of the selection process of the winning projects in the various categories of the award.

During his visit, Alfuttaisi was briefed on  the electronic system used in the jury evaluation process and spoke to the jury members and listened to their initial impressions on the participating projects in the award.

Commenting on the jury session proceedings, Alfuttaisi said "The Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment is the highest prestigious award in the field of eProjects in the Sultanate, so it is important to have a jury committee at the level of its significance in terms of the expertise of its members. The involvement of the jury members in similar experiences in different countries in the world gives them the ability to select the winning projects competently. I’m sure that their wide experiences and opinions which they will incorporate in the feedback reports will add great value to the participating projects in the award and in the improvement of the participating projects.“

“Through its five previous rounds, the award has contributed to the development of eservices in the Sultanate and touched more closely the lives of citizens and residents,” he went on.

“ we have witnessed the improvement of eprojects in many important international awards which they were nominate for and received great recognition by capturing  advanced places. Thus, we urge all government, private and SMEs to continue the development of their services and provide them electronically, especially those related to the daily lives of citizens and residents,” he further added.

It is worth to mention that over the 5 days and according to the set criteria, the jury committee will evaluate 64 submitted projects: 47 projects from government entities, 9 projects from private organizations and 8 projects from SMEs.